Remember
by Heidi Erickson
Summary: " . . . Remember, when your dreams have ended - time can be transcended - just remember me . . . " Chad and Sonny remember and mourn the times of their beloved friend. My first SWAC tragedy, please review. For Zahra and Julia.


**_Remember_**

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_**Dedication: to two of my dearest friends on FanFiction: Zahra (ZahZah-Chan), or as I call her, Zah, and Julia (Peace-love-andCDChugs). I'm Zah's Snickers sister, her "momerator", and Julia's "Willow-pillow". ;) XD Zah is crazy and mischievous, and yet sweet, protective, and smart at the same time, And Julia is sensitive, kind, and considerate – the epitome of sweetness. :) You deserve this, Zah and Julia!**_

_**Thank you, TeddyLuver, for listening to the song for me! :) The sound doesn't exactly match the story, but the lyrics do. Please turn on your sound and listen to Josh Groban's "Remember". :)**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Sonny With A Chance. All rights belong to the Disney channel. And I do not own "Remember" by Josh Groban. (Well, isn't THAT obvious? :P)**_

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It was the perfectly cliché weather for a funeral—even in Los Angeles. But as it was cliché, it was also perfect. Sunny and warm did _not_ go with sorrow and emotional pain. Cold, gloomy, and almost-rainy did.

In Angeles Rosedale Cemetery, more than a hundred people stood watch. Some of them were local tourists, nosy and oblivious to the fact that the celebrities over there were _mourning_. Some of them were family, and some of them were friends. And some of them were people from Condor Studios.

Nico Harris stood closest to the grave before him. The grave was a wide, square marble stand with a cross on the top. The cross was wide as well and had words engraved into it. It had the date engraved into it.

Zora Lancaster, clad in a black dress, which was surprising for her, stood by Nico, sniffling. She held lovely tulips in her hands and dropped them on the grave.

Grady Mitchell stood beside his brother, who probably was there for support, and he was almost weeping.

Even a teenaged Dakota Condor attended, with her aging and much mellower father.

Marshall Pike and even Joy Bitterman seemed downright distraught, located among other weeping or just gawking onlookers. Marshall wiped his bald forehead with his handkerchief, but it was drops of rain and not sweat that dripped over him. Joy stared at the grave, jaw opened, as if she did not want to deny the truth.

Ferguson Michaels, Skyler DeVane, Chastity Ann DeWitt, and Marta Balatico flanked together, opposite from Nico and Zora. They were the former stars of the recently cancelled show _Mackenzie Falls_. They wore serious expressions, and it was difficult to identify if they really cared about this event or not.

And last, Tammi Hart, knelt before the grave, at Nico's right, and she was weeping through her handkerchief. She wept so hard mascara ran down her cheeks, and you could tell she'd not used any Coco-Moco-Coco lipstick.

_Tawni Hart Harris_

_Born May 1, 1993_

_Died April 8, 2022_

Finally, the reverend stepped forward, sighing heavily. His white robes represented his holy order. He held up the Holy Bible and began reciting the rites of funerals.

"Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God of His great mercy to take unto Himself the soul of our dear sister here departed: we therefore commit her body to the ground. Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; insure and certain hope of resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, so that it may be like to His glorious body, according to the mighty working, whereby He is able to subdue all things to Himself."

Zora swallowed hard and her eyes burned of tears. _Why? Why, God? Why did she have to go?_ She cried out inwardly.

Nico sighed heavily, his hands folded in front of him, his head bent. Then a little light brown hand touched his forearm. He looked down to see his five-year-old daughter Taylor.

"Daddy, is Aunt Sonny gonna come?" Taylor's bottom lip trembled.

"Shh, Taylor," Nico held a finger to her lips. "Aunt Sonny's probably late or something."

"Uncle Chad probably didn't want to go." Six-year-old Cody mumbled glumly, standing by Zora's side and holding her hand.

"Hush," Nico quietly corrected him. Whatever was taking Sonny and Chad so long probably was excusable.

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Allison Munroe exhaled loudly and rolled her eyes.

"Will you please stop that? I'm trying to hurry." A slightly annoyed voice came from their bedroom's restroom.

"I'm sorry!" Sonny held a hand to her stomach and pushed herself off the bed. She walked with a weary stride across the bedroom to her vanity. She wasn't surprised to see her mascara had run again. Impatiently, she wiped it off with wet Q-tips. _That's it. I'm not going to wear mascara to the funeral._

Chad walked out of the bathroom, struggling with his tie. "Sonny, will you please help me?"

"Okay." Sonny went over and knotted the tie around her husband's neck. "This is hard." She muttered.

"I know. It's hard for me, too." Chad replied softly.

"No, not her…the _tie_." Sonny quickly pushed away the spasm of pain and gritted her teeth, focusing on the stubborn black tie.

"Sonny…" Chad sent her a sorrowful look. "…You can't keep going on this, keep denying that—"

"Connie is going to need me," Sonny interrupted, her voice breaking. She finished with Chad's tie and quickly flew out of the bedroom.

"Mommy!" The three-year-old called out when Sonny walked into Constance Allison Cooper's bedroom. Her daughter struggled to pull on her little black church shoes. "Are we going now?" She smiled up at her mother, her eyes sparkling, just like her father's. Sonny choked back a sob.

_Oh, Connie, you just don't understand what's happening, do you?_

"Yes…we're going to a very sad occasion, Constance," Sonny tried patiently. "So…please try to be a good girl and not bother anyone else too much."

Connie nodded, her expression sobering slightly. "Okay, Mommy. I understand."

"Thank you. Now let's get your hair fixed up," Sonny helped her little girl up from the floor, put on her shoes, and set her on the desk with the large mirror on it.

"Isn't my brown hair pretty, Mommy?" Connie grinned up at Sonny.

_Pretty. Pretty. Pretty._ _I'm smart, and pretty. I'm blonde, and pretty. I'm popular—and pretty!_

A lump formed in Sonny's throat, and she swallowed hard at it. "Y-yes, your hair is very pretty, Connie."

"Ready to go?" Chad walked into Connie's purple pony-themed bedroom.

"Yes," Sonny nodded, hastily pulling up Connie's long brown hair into a bouncy ponytail. Chad snatched up Connie's jacket from her bed and pulled it on the little girl. "All right, mini short stack, let's go."

In the car, on the way to the funeral, Chad looked over at a blank-faced Sonny. But her dark brown hairs were laced with deep grief. Chad twisted his mouth and gripped the steering wheel. Sonny was trying so hard—too hard—to conceal her grief. She probably didn't want to appear weak in front of her husband and child. Connie sat in the back seat.

Sighing softly, Chad refocused back on the seemingly less busy-than-usual streets of Los Angeles. He let his mind wander.

_Remember, I will still be here  
As long as you hold me, in your memory_

He remembered when he first met Tawni. They both were six years old, about to star on _The Goody Gang Show_. They even had "dated" briefly. Chad was Tawni's goose and Tawni was Chad's duck-duck, they had given each other the nicknames based on their favorite childhood game. They had been best friends for 7 years, and then their acting careers had impended and they slowly drifted apart. Then when Chad entered _MacKenzie Falls_ and Tawni went on _So Random!_ they became bitter rivals.

_Remember, when your dreams have ended  
Time can be transcended  
Just remember me_

It was thanks to Chad's beloved wife Sonny that Tawni and Chad became friends once again. Chad remembered…he remembered the day he and Sonny broke up over the Tween Choice Awards. Tawni had come over to his house, slapped him, and called him the worst kinds of nasty names.

"You think you can just 'make it better' by taking away our award? Huh? And I felt close to you like a sister, Chad!" Tawni burst out, tears running down her pink face.

Stunned, Chad stopped in his tracks.

"Your…sister?" He inquired quietly. He was always an only child, and secretly wanted a sister figure he could take care of.

"…Yes," Tawni replied softly. "You're like a brother to me, Chad…and…believe it or not, brothers and sisters so have to be considerate of each other's feelings. Did you not only consider Sonny's feelings…but also mine…Nico's, Grady's, and Zora's?"

Humbled and bereft, Chad sat down in his cushioned chair. He put his elbows on his thighs and placed his cheek in his palm. He thought deeply about the choices he had made.

He sighed heavily. "I'm so stupid, Tawni. I don't deserve anyone…"

_I am the one star that keeps burning, so brightly,_  
_It is the last light, to fade into the rising sun_

_I'm with you_  
_Whenever you tell, my story_  
_For I am all I've done_

A moment later, Tawni was squatting down to Chad's level. She placed a hand on Chad's shoulder.

"You know…you and me, Chad – we're a lot alike. I've made choices without thinking of others' feelings as well. Remember when I used to hide my cast mates' fan mail from them? Chad, don't be so hard on yourself. You're not going to sit there and mope, are you?" She smiled slightly and squeezed his shoulder. "No…you're going to make this right. You're a star, Chad Dylan Cooper—just like me. And stars do not fall unless they want to."

Chad smiled back at her. "You haven't been looking in your mirror lately, have you?"

Tawni blanched and rushed to the restroom to stare into the mirror once again.

_Remember, I will still be here_  
_As long as you hold me, in your memory_  
_Remember me_

Sonny looked over to her husband. He seemed to be in a daze, and Sonny was afraid he would forget he was driving. "Chad!" She said. He blinked and shook his head. "Oh—uh, sorry. Thanks."

They pulled into the rocky driveway of the cemetery. "Oh, crap, we're late," Sonny muttered, looking at the horde of people surrounding that one cross-topped grave. Sonny's throat tightened.

Chad helped his wife out of the car and then carried Connie up the slightly sloping hill. Sonny held a hand to her bulging belly and took Chad's other hand, trudging up the hill.

The wind blew, making her teeth chatter. She swallowed hard, fixing her eyes on the grave. Tears stung her eyes, threatening to run over. _Tawni…_

_I am that warm voice in the cold wind, that whispers  
And if you listen, you'll hear me call across the sky_

"_Sonny,_" a voice whispered out of nowhere. Sonny quickly looked about as she and Chad stood by Nico's side.

"_Sonny, it's okay to cry._"

Sonny bit her lip, hardly believing that she was hearing Tawni's warm, soft wind. She _felt _warm…as if a being was holding her. Then she realized it was Chad who was holding her.

And then Tawni's coffin sank into the ground, and two men readied their shovels.

Sonny couldn't hold it in any longer. She burst into sobs and hid her face into Chad's chest.

_As long as I still can reach out, and touch you  
That I will never die_

Chad felt a spiritual presence near him…it was as if Tawni was by him, holding onto Sonny as well.

Sonny remembered the first time Tawni had shown her tender heart. James Conroy had jilted her, and so a hurt Sonny had sat there in her char, stunned. Then Tawni, awkwardly and slowly, had leaned down and firmly held Sonny close, leaning her head on Sonny's shoulder. At first, Sonny was surprised and touched, but then grew uncomfortable because it was very uncharacteristic of Tawni.

Still, on that day, Sonny had finally believed that Tawni was indeed capable of caring.

_Remember, I'll never leave you_  
_If you will only_  
_Remember me_

When Sonny had been accused of stealing and her role on _So Random!_ stripped away, Tawni was the only one who had stuck by her. She went with Sonny all the way to Wisconsin to prove Sonny innocent. And in the end, Sonny had finally believed Tawni to be capable of wiped tears from his eyes and stepped forward, taking a dozen roses from Taylor's hand and dropped them on Tawni's grave after it was covered.

_Remember me..._

"I'll never forget you, my love. Thank you for loving me back." Nico whispered so inaudibly that not even Sonny or Chad heard.

_Remember, I will still be here  
As long as you hold me  
In your memory_

Sonny stopped crying and stepped forward to drop her roses on the grave.

"_I'm still here, Sonny…I'm in your heart…_" She heard an ethereal voice lull softly in her ear.

_Remember, when your dreams have ended_  
_Time can be transcended_  
_I live forever_  
_Remember me_

Connie slipped her hand into her mother's and looked down at the cross, confused. "Aunt Tawni…I'll see you soon, right?" She asked, wondering what her Aunt Tawni was doing in the ground. Sonny bit her lip, squeezing her eyes shut.

"_Yes…yes, you'll see me again someday; you all will…_" Tawni's voice touched Sonny gently.

"And I'll remember you always," Sonny whispered back. She imagined Tawni's smile. Then she turned around to see Chad. He gave her a sad smile.

People began filing away to leave. Sonny looked at Nico and took his hand. "We're naming our baby after her, to keep her in our memory. Would you approve of that, Nico?" Sonny asked softly.

"Yes," Nico nodded. "Yes, I would really approve of that. Thank you, Sonny." He hugged her and Chad and Connie, and then Cody and Taylor hugged them all as well.

After the Harris had left, the Coopers were left alone before Tawni's grave.

"We…we'll see her again, Chad, in a better place." Sonny nodded, finally coming to grips with reality.

"Yes." Chad nodded along. "Memory is one of the best gifts God gives."

Silently, Chad, Sonny, and Connie walked downhill, leaving the lonely grave behind.

But the memory was still there.

_Remember me..._

_Remember...me..._

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_**_A/N: *Sniffles,* Well…this isn't the best angst fic, but I tried. :P I hope you all like it even though it looks awkward and rushed. XP Zah and Julia, I hope you like this one-shot even though it is very sad! :')_**

**_Please…review. :)_**

**_- Heidi Erickson _**

**_A/N: Forgive the mistakes...my Editing feature on FF will NOT edit this...*growls* I'm so frustrated. :/_**


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